Controlled interactive display of content using networked computer devices

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a novel method for interacting with content objects stored in computer devices connected as nodes of a communications network, each node including an input interface and an output interface, the output interface including a display area. A first display area of a first node is partitioned into a first private work area and a first personal work area associated with the first node. A second display area of a second node is partitioned into a set of second personal work areas and a public work area, each second personal work area associated with other nodes and the public work area associated with all of the nodes.  
     A particular content object of the first node in the first private work area is visualized as a content item according to attributes enabled by the visualizing and moved from the first private work area to the first personal work area. In response to the first moving, the content item in the corresponding second personal work area is visualized according to attributes enabled by the first moving. The content item is then moved from the second personal work area to the public personal work area and visualized, in response to the second moving, in the public work area according to attributes enabled by the second moving.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to computer-implementedpresentations systems, and more particularly to multi-user interactivedisplay systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Sharing information in a collaborative setting is an importantaspect of many professional and social interactions. Managers and staffcollaborate on projects, sales people make presentations to potentialcustomers, attorneys negotiate dispute resolutions, and family membersshare photographs of memorable events in their lives.

[0003] The means for exchanging information can be as simple as paperdocuments or pictures arranged on a table top. However, computertechnology has evolved from providing a stationary resource located on adesktop in the office or home, to a highly mobile resource embodied insuch devices as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA's),and cellular telephones accessing digitized content, e.g., text, images,videos, etc. There, the content can be displayed on the device itselffor private viewing, or on a public display areas for shared viewing.However, in such collaborative interactions, the ‘owner’ of the contentmay want to retain some control of how the content is manipulated fordisplay, and how the underlying content is accessed and modified.

[0004] Greenberg, et al. in “Interactive PDAs and Shared PublicDisplays: Making Personal Information Public, and Public InformationPersonal,” Personal Technologies, Vol.3, No.1, 1999, describe a numberof prior art systems that exchange electronic content in collaborativeenvironments.

[0005] Generally described, those prior art systems set rigid andsimplistic rules for categorizing content as either public or private.Further, they fail to enable fast, efficient methods for sharing thecontent. Conventional interactive systems do not provide an effectivemeans for interacting with the content because the strict nature of thecategorizations limit the access to certain content. This limitationarises because those conventional systems have only two modes ofoperation, a private mode and a public mode. A single participant oftengenerates the content only for private use. Occasionally, some of thecontent is made available for public use. However, when the content ispublicly used, the owner has, in most cases, absolutely no control overthe manner of public use.

[0006] In view of these limitations of prior art collaborative systems,there is a need for an improved method and system that allows multipleusers to interact with and share electronic content in a collaborativesetting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The invention provides a novel method for interacting withcontent objects stored in computer devices connected as nodes of acommunications network, each node including an input interface and anoutput interface, the output interface including a display area. A firstdisplay area of a first node is partitioned into a first private workarea and a first personal work area associated with the first node. Asecond display area of a second node is partitioned into a set of secondpersonal work areas and a public work area, each second personal workarea associated with other nodes and the public work area associatedwith all of the nodes.

[0008] A particular content object of the first node in the firstprivate work area is visualized as a content item according toattributes enabled by the visualizing and moved from the first privatework area to the first personal work area. In response to the firstmoving, the content item in the corresponding second personal work areais visualized according to attributes enabled by the first moving.

[0009] The content item is then moved from the second personal work areato the public personal work area and visualized, in response to thesecond moving, in the public work area according to attributes enabledby the second moving.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an interactive display systemaccording to the invention;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic of the system of FIG. 1;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computer device according to theinvention; and

[0013]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of display and work areas according tothe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0014] System Structure

[0015]FIG. 1 shows an interactive display system 100 according to theinvention. The system 100 includes multiple computer devices 120,hereinafter “nodes” connected to each other by a network 110.

[0016]FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of the system according to theinvention. The nodes 120 include a personal digital assistants (PDA), alaptop computer, a cellular telephone, and in-table-mounted computer.Each node includes an input interface 231, e.g., a keyboard, mouse,touch sensitive surface, or combinations thereof, and an outputinterface 232, i.e., a display area. The display areas can also be invarious forms, e.g., CRT, LCD, and rear or front projected. The nodescommunicate with each other via, e.g., a wired or wireless network.

[0017] Node and Data Structures

[0018]FIG. 3 shows the general structure of one node 120. The nodeincludes a processor (P) 210, a memory (M) 220, and an I/O module 230connected to each other by buses 240. The I/O module connects to theinput and output interfaces. The memories of the various nodes can storemulti-media content objects 250, e.g., documents, files, images, videos,etc. The content objects are visualized as content items 440. Thevisualization can be an actual direct rendering of the content, or anindirect rendering of the content as icons representing the contentobjects.

[0019] Content

[0020] Each content object 250 has sets 260 of appearance, accessibilityand ownership attributes. These attributes control the interactivevisualization of the objects 250 as items 440 on the output interfaces232 using the input interfaces 231. The attribute of the content objects250 are enabled on a per node basis.

[0021] Attributes of Content

[0022] Appearance attributes control the visualization of the contentobjects as content items, e.g., the location, orientation, size of theitems, without modifying the underlying content object.

[0023] Accessibility attributes temporarily control the content objectsdirectly, e.g., read, write, modify, delete. These operations canindirectly control the visualization of the corresponding items.Persistent control of the content is managed by the ownershipattributes.

[0024] Display and Work Areas

[0025]FIG. 4 shows a partitioning of the display area 232 into workareas according to the invention. A particular display area 232 caninclude one private work area 410 associated with the node itself, a setof personal work areas 420 associated with other nodes participating inthe collaboration, and a set of unassociated public work areas 430.

[0026] The private work area operates much like a conventional ‘desktop.’ The user visualizes items in the private work area by ‘opening’the underlying content objects. The items are removed by a ‘closing’ or‘delete’ operation. There is no analogy in the prior art for thepersonal and public work areas.

[0027] The work areas are used to visualize the content objects 250 ascontent items 440. The work areas can have identificationcharacteristics to identify the corresponding nodes and owners. Forexample, a personal work area of a particular node can have the samebackground color as the associated private work area. The public workarea, not associated with any node, can have a neutral background color.

[0028] The idea of the invention is to ‘share’ both the content objectsand their visualization as content items among work areas of severalcollaborating nodes. However, one object of the invention is tointeractively collaborate in a controlled manner, so that eachindividual user have complete control over who sees what, and to whatextent other users can manipulate what starts out as being privatecontent.

[0029] Enabling Attributes

[0030] Only a user of a node enabled with ownership attribute of thestored content objects can enable attributes of that content for othernodes. Attributes can be enabled directly and indirectly. In a directway, the owner uses the input interface, e.g., the keyboard or mouse, toset the attributes.

[0031] Of special interest to the invention is the indirect enabling ofattribute by manipulating the content items in the various displayareas.

[0032] After a user selects a particular content object forvisualization in the private work area of a particular node, then theitem can be enabled for another node by moving it from the private workarea to the personal work area associated with another node. This causesthe content item to appear in the corresponding personal work area ofthe other node and attributes are partially enabled for that node.Moving the item to the public work area enables additional attributesfor all users of the system.

[0033] An owner of an item can enable ownership of content objects anditems to another user by moving the item to that user's personal workarea. In this case, another instance of the object and item isgenerated. The original owner can retain control over the originalcontent.

[0034] After an item appears in a personal or public work area,authorized user, e.g., the owner or co-owners can change the attributesby moving the item over or through icons representing various attributechanges. The attributes can also be changed using a ‘drop-down’ menu.One such icon can represent the fact that all attributes are enabled forall users, so that the content and item can be changed in any way by anyuser.

[0035] It is to be understood that various other adaptations andmodifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention.Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover all suchvariations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope ofthe invention.

1. A method for interacting with content objects stored in computerdevices connected as nodes of a communications network, each nodeincluding an input interface and an output interface, the outputinterface including a display area: partitioning a first display area ofa first node into a first private work area and a first personal workarea associated with the first node; partitioning a second display areaof a second node into a set of second personal work areas and a publicwork area, each second personal work area associated with other nodesand the public work area associated with all of the nodes; firstvisualizing a particular content objects of the first node in the firstprivate work area as a content item according to attributes enabled bythe visualizing; first moving the content item from the first privatework area to the first personal work area; second visualizing, inresponse to the first moving, the content item in the correspondingsecond personal work area according to attributes enabled by the firstmoving; second moving the content item from the second personal workarea to the public personal work area; third visualizing, in response tothe second moving, the content item in the public work area according toattributes enabled by the second moving.
 2. The method of claim 1, inwhich selected content items are visualized indirectly as iconsrepresenting the selected content items.
 3. The method of claim 1, inwhich each content item includes a set of attributes.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, in the set of attributes includes appearance, accessibility andownership attributes.
 5. The method of claim 4, in which the appearanceattributes control a location, an orientation, a size of the contentduring the visualization.
 6. The method of claim 4, in which theaaccessibility attributes temporarily control read, write, modify, anddelete operations on the content items during the visualization.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: associating identificationcharacteristics with the work areas, the identification characteristicsidentifying owners and nodes of the work areas.
 8. The method of claim7, in which the identification characteristics are colors of the workareas.
 9. The method of claim 3, in which only a user of a particularnode enabled with an ownership attribute of a particular content itemcan enable the attributes of the particular content item for anothernode.